Fading Scars
by Red Marks
Summary: (The true ending to Scars.) The death of Gumball Watterson has made Rob aimless. With no enemy to fight, he asks the age-old question: Why am I here? Little does he know, there's still an unassuming salesman in town; with the power to answer his question and change his life forever.
1. Chapter 1

I _can't believe he's gone._

 _Without him, I no longer have a purpose in this world._

 _I'm a failure. A mistake._

 _I was erased and forgotten,_

 _sending my existence into the Void._

 _I was forgotten for a reason:_

 _I wasn't good enough for this world._

 _I have no parents, no relatives, no friends._

 _Nobody even knows my name._

 _I was his arch-nemesis. I hated him, yet he gave me the will to live._

 _He made me…_

 _A somebody._

 _I actually felt special to this world._

 _Like I had an important role, just like the others._

 _Now he's gone, but not before taking my passion with him._

 _Ever since then, I sat in silence and loneliness._

 _Thinking.  
I have nobody to chase, no goal to achieve._

 _I can't go to school anymore. Nobody recognizes me._

 _And now I question,  
To what I'm living for, in general.  
I can't keep living like this.  
_

 **Rob**

* * *

 **Tuesday, eight days after the funeral of Gumball Watterson.**

"$3.25..."

"$3.50…"

"$3.75…"

$3.75.

He only had $3.75 in his hand, but he was so sure he had another quarter tuck into his pocket! He looked back at the man behind the register with embarrassment and slowly placed all the change he had in his hand in front of the counter. He put his hand back into his pockets, hoping for the quarter to magically appear in his pockets.

Larry pulled each coin back with his index finger, counting all the quarters, nickels, pennies, and dimes that were left on the counter. When he reaches to the last nickel, he finds Rob to only be twenty-five cents short. Larry looks up and notices the frustrated glitchy cyclops who is currently pulling his pockets, trying to find at something that would help his shortage of change.

No luck. He be damned if he doesn't get something to eat. He's been walking all day, begging for money. Most of the time, people that came across his path choose to ignore his pleads, while other only gave him loose change. He even resorted to searching for vending machines, since begging became so scarce. Many people drop their loose change and never bothered picking it up, leaving poor old George Washington and Abraham Lincoln hidden underneath the snack-packed machine. Others even forget to collect the remaining change in the coin returner, another upside for Rob.

Still, it wasn't any match for the four-dollar selection: A simple Joyful Burger.

"I'm sorry, that's all I have on me..." He took his arms out of his pockets and returned his eyes to the menu, hoping to find a cheaper alternative. However, the sound of the cash register pulling back and change dropping into the slot turned his attention to Larry.

Larry closed the cash register and faced Rob. Rob gave Larry a confused look, but Larry returned it with a small smile.

"Don't even worry about it, it's only twenty-five cents. Not like well go bankrupt or anything." He bends down underneath towards the counter and came back with an empty large red fountain cup, turning the cup upside down and setting it on the counter. Rob still continues to look at Larry in confusion, not knowing how to react to this kind gesture. Sure he's only twenty-five cents short, but a large fountain drink alone is a dollar and seventy-nine!

"Um, won't you be in trouble if your boss caught you giving me free stuff?" Rob responded, grabbing the fountain drink. Larry was in the process of hitting a few buttons on the touch-screen computer but not before looking at Rob with the same confused look Rob gave him earlier.

Suddenly, he closed his eyes and blew air through his nose, all while giving Rob another small smile.

"It's just a soda cup man. And besides, not like my manager is going to give a care in the world that I just offered a paying customer a free cup."

Rob decided it's best to leave it at that. Not only is he hungry, but his mouth cries of dehydration. He thanked Larry for the courtesy cup and took the receipt. As he turned around, he notices the large line of people waiting for him. All twelve faces were all focused on him, being a mixture of annoyance and impatience, with the one being next to him having his arms crossed.

Embarrassed, Rob speed-walked to the soda-machine and pour himself a nice cup of water.

After filling up his large cup, he takes a seat next to the window, taking many sips from his courtesy cup. After feeling satisfied, with his mouth no longer feeling sticky and somewhat dry, he places his head on the window

A wave of discomfort and pain shoot from his feet. He has done nothing but walked all day, having no time to rest due to starvation. Even when he finds a place to relax, he's either too paranoid to rest alone in the dark or the surface he's laying on gives him an itch or discomfort that'll keep him up all night; Grass, gravel, ants, etc..

Rob's a homeless teen, no point in hiding the truth. He's always been ever since he escaped the Void. He has no memory of his family, so there's no home for him to turn to. His former school, Elmore Junior High, no longer carry his identification. They don't even hold his student records. To them, he's nothing but a kid that never enrolled in school.

On top of that, no one in Elmore recognizes Rob. It might be the change of appearance that makes him unrecognizable. Being that he became disfigured, having almost all parts of his body becoming distorted static. However, not even the mention of his name give anyone a hint on who he is. This is what Molly must've went through when she too, escaped from the Void.

While lost in his train of thoughts, Larry came out with a green plastic tray that holds the simple Joyful Burger. He placed the tray on the marble counter and turned his attention to the resting glitchy teen.

" **NUMBER 27! ORDER NUMBER 27!** "

Still having his head on the window, Rob pulls out the receipt from his pocket and looked down at the piece of paper to find the numbers **27** bolded right on top. He brought himself up on his feet and walked towards the counter. Larry is behind the counter with the green tray in his hand, serving Rob again, another smile. The line has gotten shorter the last time he saw it, with only five people remaining in line.

Rob grabbed his tray and apologized to Larry about the long line. Larry brought his hand up and waved it side-to-side, reassure him that it's nothing to worry about, and that "no customer should be rushed with their order."

Rob returned to his table and unwrapped the foil wrapper the stands between the burger and him, and begins chowing down.

Odd, the burger is much more enjoyable compared to when he had the same burger last time. The meat doesn't taste like cheap frozen beef, like your munching on a gum-wrapper. Instead, the juices soaking into his tongue, giving his tongue pure ecstasy. The flavors became spectacular the more he chewed. Vegetables felt fresher, like they didn't have the same taste of being in a metal container for hours while they lose their flavor. He has no idea if hunger is doing this burger magic, all he knew that this burger was damn good, and he's going to enjoy every bite of it.

"Man, is that burger really good? You seem to be going out of town on it."

Rob takes a few good chews before swallowing and looking up. His eyes widen and his jaw opens slightly, still having the burger in front of his mouth.

What appears before him was a multicolored cloud-like figure with a headband that closes on his head, making another miniature cloud figure. His blue lips seal together, forming a smile at the shocked cyclops.

He brings both his hands up to adjust the headband, from there, he can see both his wrists wrapped in a green wristband.

He knows him. No, he remembers him.

Tobias Wilson, one of the few people Gumball was close with.

Rob remembers Tobias clearly. Back to when he was new in Elmore Junior High, Tobias came sprinting towards to Rob while he was placing his books inside his locker. When he reached him, he needs to catch his breath before bring up his sister party, and letting him know he's invited.

He didn't know him at that time, but Tobias stated that he wants to get to know the whole football team and possibly show off the whole team members on what he's capable of being their starting quarterback. It was clear that Tobias mistook him for being one of the wide receivers.

He's a pretty tall kid, so anyone would assume he's involved in sports.

When he arrived at Tobias's house party. There was nothing spectacular about the party. It wasn't even considered a party, it was more of a get-together, with everyone doing kindergarten activities like the chicken-dance and leapfrog jumping. The songs that were played were, what Rob couldn't make up at the time, was polka. He started to regret ever showing up to this so-called high school party.

That is until Miss. Simian barged in, uninvited. Turning the mood of the party into a full 180, going from polka music and boring party-games to rock n roll music.

Everyone became hyped the moment Simian stepped in and became in charge of the party, causing a huge disturbance in the neighborhood with their blaring speakers, beaming disco-lights that illuminated the whole house, T.V's being thrown out towards window, crowd-surfing, the childish screams from the teens and children that woke the town of Elmore.

Pretty sure he even fucking saw Clayton eat Idaho's upper half. In that situation, you would've expected Idaho to let out a dreadful scream, running around in fear and terror. But Idaho was so into the party, he just brushed it off and made a joke about he was doing the, quote on quote, "mashed potato."

He mainly hanged out with Tobias throughout the whole party, with the exception of being with Molly and Alan. One event that happened at the party that stood out was when they both put on lampshades on their heads and pulled the chain attached, showing off each other's brain.

It made it so funny how Tobias had the smaller brain compared to the two.

Ever since then, the two hanged out. Having sleepovers with other students in school, eating fast-food afterschool, playing four-square with Banana Joe and Bobert. The more he hanged out with Tobias, the more social he became and gain friends. He started to enjoy what Elmore had for him.

Then the world decided to erase him from existence, placing him in the Void with all the other mistakes.

Throughout the whole time Rob was lost in his thoughts, Tobias was sucking every last ounce of soda from his cup, setting off an obnoxious sound from it. "Oh man, the way you eating that sandwich kinda makes this crap look good."

Rob removed the burger from his mouth and rest both his arms on the table, still holding onto the burger. "Crap? If you hate the burgers so much, why do you come here?"

Tobias stares at Rob with a blank expression, before grabbing one of the chairs beside him and bring himself to Rob's table.

Tobias brings one of his hands up and fondles with his headband, having one finger running across the elastic band, smiling at the young teen. "The reason for me being here, is too pick up the ladies man."

As if it was right on cue, a blue teen wolf with a pink jacket and light blue ponytail came walking towards Tobias's direction.

Tobias turns his whole body to the left and leaves his whole attention towards the wolf.

"Hey girl…"

The wolf comes to a complete stop and looks down at the perverted, teeth-grinning jock.

He then proceeds to whistle at her, followed by clicking of his tongue, kissing noises, growling...

Then a raspberry…

He tried to flirt with someone, with a raspberry...

Same old steps, comes with the same old results.

With no time to react, she abruptly smacked Tobias across the right cheek before she puts both her hand inside her pockets and walks away.

As the teenage wolf leaves the tables with Tobias covering his face, groaning in agony, Rob takes another bite from his burger.

Pulling off a napkin from the napkin dispenser and wiping of ketchup from the corner of his lips, he gives Tobias a worried gaze. Should he ask him? Should he ask if he remembers him at all? It's not something to bring up in a normal conversation like this, but he needs to know if he has at least someone in Elmore that remembers who Rob was.

He hoped.

"Hey man, this might be a really weird question to ask, but do you, at all, know who I am? You invited me to your sister's party back in junior high."

Hears this, Tobias put his thumb and index finger to his chin and focused on Rob, obviously trying to figure out if he looked familiar to him. To Tobias, he has no memory of inviting the cyclopes to the party.

Come to think of it, he doesn't have any memory of him being his classmate. Nor seeing him in public at all.

"Sorry man, I have no clue who you are. I have never seen you at school, and I'm pretty popular kid at school. Trust me, I know everyone." He said as he cross his arms and tilted his head upward with his eyes closed, trying rub in his popularity.

False-popularity.

All Rob can do is sigh and take a sip of his drink. This is the seventh time he asked a familiar face if they knew him. All in which, were either them denying they ever met Rob, while others try to walk away from Rob, leaving his question unanswered.

Although it's clear that they too, have no memory of Rob.

Then it hit him, Tobias knew Gumball.

Rob never really knew why Gumball decided to take away his own life. It shocked him when he overheard two ladies talking about the whole incident while he was in line at the grocery store. When he heard how he died, he dropped everything in his hand, which was only a water bottle and a cabbage, and freezed.

So many thoughts ran through his head. He was such a bright kid with outgoing family, a girlfriend to love and laugh, and friends to hang out with.

Why?

Why did he take his own life?!

It's weird, the way how he responded to his archenemy's death. He originally wanted him dead. To make his life just a miserable and broken, the same feeling Rob felt once he returned to Elmore.

But this is the same kid who risked his life to save Rob's. How can he ever hate the kid that chased him down to save him. When Gumball ejected him to the Void, he went after him.

Keep in mind Gumball was going to disappear, being forgotten from this world the same way Rob was in, and all he thought about was going after Rob and saving him.

The kid is really hard to hate.

He needed to ask Tobias about what happened to Gumball. He needs to know why he did this to himself.

"Hey...

Tobias didn't made any changes to his pose, it's like as if like no one was in front of him.

"Were you by any chance, a friend to Gumball?"

Tobias snaps his eyes wide open and his teeth-grinning smile soon faded into its neutral look. He uncrosses his arms and tilts his head downwards towards the eye level of Rob.

"Y-Yeah… Yeah I was..."

"I was his friend also. We weren't really close, but we were really good friends..." He then leaves his eyes away from Tobias's and looks down on the pearl table.

"I just wanted to know if… Did he do it? Did he really do it?"

"..."

Rob looks up to the unresponsive Tobias and sees him cupping his mouth, trying to fight back the tears as his eyes became watery.

Well...Shit.

He knew it was a bad idea to mention Gumball to Tobias. Gumball's funeral was held eight days ago, so not everyone was over from feline's death. Especially Tobias, who Rob has vivid memories of him being the closest friend Gumball had outside of his family.

He feels awful. How can he hurt Tobias like that? Asking him question about his late-friend when it was obvious he was trying to forget everything that happened recently, coming to Joyful Burger to flirt with girls and keep his mind off of his friend's passing.

He should just walk up and leave.

"...Y-Yes… It's true, it's fucking true man. H-He's gone and I don't know what to do man..."

Rob turns his attention to Tobias.

"I wanted to talk to him. I wanted to know if he was okay. But I was afraid he would get angry at me and throw an outburst again... He did... before... He was always moody and angry when you try to have a small-talk with him…"

"I tried to get him involved in games with me and my friends when I began noticing changes in his personality. In recess, when he was sitting alone in one of the schoolyard benches, I asked him if he wanted to play four-square with me, Juke, and Banana Joe. He just ignored me and continued looking down on the ground…"

"I kept pursuing him to hang out with me. I kept at it till he got up and walked away. I should've just stopped and let him be. But… I followed him instead… I guessed that really pissed him off because following him and asked him if he was okay, and why he's been so sad lately. The moment he looked back and saw me following him, he bends down and reaches for a rock…"

"Before I could anything, he threw the rock at me…"

* * *

 _"Hey Juke! Wanna play four-square with us man?"_

 _Juke was sitting in one of theschool'ss tables outside with Leslie and Teri. For some reason, those two enjoy Juke company despite his inability to speak English. He has a problem having a conversation to anyone, but Teri had no issue, and insists that he should hang out with Leslie and her._

 _When Juke heard Tobias requesting him to play some four-square with him and Banana Joe, he said his goodbyes to the two, or he tried to say. The only words that came out of him was a combination of beatboxing and electronic drums. He then went walking towards Tobias and his fruity friend._

 _Tobias put his hand up, wanting a high-five from Juke. In which, Juke receives._

" _Awesome man, we just only need one more guy to be in our game and where all set!"  
_

 _Banana Joe lets out his signature laughter and decided to speak up. "We should ask if Bobert would play with us! He's on a 22-0 record and I feel like I can take on!"_

 _Tobias looked at Joe and gave him an annoyed look._

" _Dude, c'mon man. Bobert a robot. All he does is lock onto the ball and extends his arms so he never lets the ball hit the floor. He's never gonna lose, Joe."_

" _But this time I'm sure to win! I can feel it in my veins!"_

 _Tobias rolled his eyes at him and began searching across the blacktop to find other participants._

 _Both Teri and Leslie are too weak for to get involved. Teri's made of paper, so for to hit the ball would just leave her hand crumbled. Some would go for Leslie, except his leaves would tear off._

 _Bobert a pain to play with, so he's out of the question._

 _Ocho? That 8-bit hothead gets mad if nothing goes in his way. He one time got mad at Cards Against Humans, a card game with no goal other than making the host laugh. No sign of Anton or Idaho, so they're out of the question. Carrie? Sorry, but the rules in four-square states you need to be physically alive in order to play. And she's not physical, nor alive. Jamie? Nah. Sussie? She'll probably eat the ball. Gumball?_

…

 _Gumball is sitting in one of the wooden schoolyard benches with a rock in his hand. Looks like he's carving something in one of the wooden planks._

" _Hey, we should ask Gumball if he wants to come play with us."_

 _Juke started beatboxing in such rapid pace. It's as if he's trying to tell Tobias that it wouldn't be such a good idea to have him involved. Banana Joe, however, encouraged him to go and ask him._

" _Yeah! Yeah! I wanna show him how much I improved my skills from the last time we played!"_

 _Tobias was about to walk over towards Gumball, but not before he felt a tug from his headband._

 _He turned around and it was no other than Juke trying to grab his attention. Juke then proceeded to speak in rapid beatboxes and electronic drums as he points at Gumball and makes other hand gestures._

 _Tobias looked at Juke for few seconds before interrupting him with his hand being raised towards his face level._

" _Uhh, I'm sorry dude. I don't speak jive…"_

 _Tobias then turned around and then headed towards the lonely feline's direction. Behind him, he can hear Juke's cries getting louder and louder each step he takes, but this time he ignores him and continues walking._

 _ **Fuck Me**_

 _Those were the words Gumball carved onto the bench before throwing away the rock he held onto and stare into the blacktop. As he was focusing on his thoughts and his surroundings, e heard footsteps coming his way. He would look up and see who's coming, but he knows if he did, they would want to talk to him._

 _Can't they take a hint that he doesn't want to be bothered? He's trying his best to not get anyone involved with him. He feels that when he does talk to someone, he'll find a way to ruin their day. No matter what, it's bound to happen._

 _The man walking towards his direction stopped a few inches between Gumball as he takes a look at his friend. Gumball slightly looked upward to see two pairs of red shoes facing towards him. Seeing that it was no other than Tobias Wilson._

" _Hey man, you wanna play four-square with me? I already have two people to tag along with me."_

 _ **Silence. Eyes on the blacktop. Do not engage.**_

 _The silence makes Tobias uncomfortable and tense. Okay? He probably didn't hear him. Maybe he's lost in his thoughts. He reaches his over Gumball's shoulder and gave it a few light taps._

" _Hey man, you go-"_

 _Gumball quickly swats Tobias's hand away and remains focused on the blacktop._

 _Tobias was taken back by Gumball's mood today. Before, he would always accept Tobias's request to play games with him and Banana Joe. Even on his worse days, he would still try to get involved with others. I guess today he isn't in the mood._

" _Uh, do you just wanna go inside and eat? They're making peanut butter and mash-"_

 _Gumball pulled himself off the bench and started walking away from Tobias, interrupting his prolonged talk. He is seriously on his breaking point to where he might start crying again._

 _Why can't the stupid fucking jock take a hint he doesn't want to be in his stupid little kindergarten game. He needs to go somewhere quiet, and the locker room sounds like a good place to sit in silence. Why did he decided to go outside, a place where people are around to talk and engage._

 _God, he felt stupid for even coming to school today._

 _As he begins walking away from the schoolyard and into the back of the school, he hears yet again, footsteps behind him._

 _He turns around and sees no other than the stupid jock again, following his direction._

 _The slight of him just makes his blood boil and his heart racing._

 _That's it._

" _Is everything okay?! You've been so distant lately, it's sc-"_

 _He began marching towards Tobias. His eyes were becoming red, but no tears were being shown. In the inside, however, he knew later on they'll come to washing his cheeks again._

 _Suddenly, he felt a scrap underneath his foot, nearly tripping over the unknown substance._

" _...and I don't see you and Darwin together anymore. Did you guys had a fight or something? Sure looks li-"_

 _Gumball raises his foot and sees that a rock, almost the size of his palm, was underneath his shoe. The rock left a huge white mark behind it, showing the action of it being scrap across the blacktop._

 _He reaches down to pick it up._

" _...So tell me man, what's up?"_

 _He looked at the rock for a few seconds, then turned his attention towards Tobias, who has a frowning expression on his face._

 _Anger begins to build up inside him the more he looks at the multicolor bastard. He begins to wonder how the hell he put up with his shit for many years…_

 _He takes one more step towards him, pull his hand back till his arm is behind his head, and threw the three-inched rock towards his friends face._

* * *

"I had no time to react when he threw that rock at me. I tried to block it with my arm, but before I even tried to attempt to raise, I was already on the ground with my nose all bloody and in pain."

Rob was know sitting back in his chair, eyes widen and in shock.

"I guess everybody witness what happened, because when I regain my focus towards Gumball, the whole schoolyard was silent. I felt everybody's eyes on us. Before I could say anything to him, he started yelling at me…"

* * *

" _ **GODDAMMIT MAN, WHY CAN'T YOU JUST LEAVE ME THE FUCK ALONE?!**_ _" Gumball was inches away from Tobias, with two of his leg spread apart and his knees slightly bent. Both his arms are locked into an L shape as both his fists were closed into a fist._

 _Everyone, and I mean everyone, stopped playing and looked at the duo. They have never seen Gumball attacked anyone. He was known as a outgoing, but a very fragile kid. For him to attack one of his closest friends, was shocking._

 _Banana Joe was no longer pumped up for a game of four-square, and Juke had his hand covering his cassette tape slot. He knew Gumball was bad news, hence why he tried to stop Tobias from talking to him, but even in his expectation, he would never assume Gumball would hurt anyone._

 _Meanwhile, Tobias was so confused on what happened. This happened way to fast for him. His nose was bleeding. He didn't knew he had a nose, but here he is, using his hand to stop the blood from flowing across._

 _It only took a few seconds for Gumball to turn from anger to sadness and regret. When he realized what he has done, he become terrified on what was in front of him. He did this, to his own best-friend. He looked up and saw everyone's eyes on him. All of which, are a mixture of disgust and fear._

 _He started backing up from Tobias, before immediately turning around and started running from the scene. He headed towards the red school doors and without any thought, pushed the doors open with his right shoulder so powerful, it left a huge hole on the wall beside it._

 _When Gumball left, Tobias stand up and heading inside to find the nurses office. While he was walking in the hallway, he shed a few tears as he looked back on everything that happened._

* * *

Tobias grabbed his headband, gripping the elastic sweatband till the point he lost feeling of it.

Till he lost the feeling in his hand.

While Tobias sat in silence, Rob was taken back from everything Tobias was saying. This. This was all too much for him to aborsed and think over. This wasn't the Gumball he knew.

This was someone else. Someone, he knew nothing about.

"After that, he detached himself from everyone at school and it worried everyone. Penny heard about what happened to between us and wanted to set things straight with him… He.. He just yelled at her and told her to fuck off. They were going at it, screaming, crying, and cursing… Everyone was worried for him, but at the same time, they were afraid of him."

"W-Wait, he argued with Penny?! He was such caring person, I would never see Gumball be bitter towards her! Or anyone!"

Tobias let go of the headband and let his arm drop. An audible thump came from it, with it only be heard by the two. The more Tobias spoke, the more his eyes become crimson. Tears are beginning to slide across his cheeks.

"He wrote a suicide letter… Stating everything that happened. He hated himself. He said he said everyone at school hated him because he was being "a dick" and that he doesn't blame anyone who does. No one hated him! We were just afraid to talk to him!"

So much information for Rob to process. He would never expect Gumball to turn out to be some kind of outcast. The last time he and Gumball ever spoke to each other was the time he became Banana Joe enemy, with Gumball interfering his plans to destroy the class clown.

That was almost a year ago. Who knew what could've happened in that time period

"So much has happened when he died… His mom and dad had a divorce, School became so broken and grey, everyone I knew missed him so much.."

Then, tears began to fall.

"...Penny… Penny was the hurted the most… She... _She..._ FUCK!"

At this point, Tobias couldn't hold it in anymore dropped it his head onto the table, with his forearms cushioning the impact.

The moment Tobias mention Penny's name. Rob pushed his chair back and was now standing on his own two feet. Due to how fast he shot up standing, the chair was sent back flying till it hit the wall behind it, as it made an audible screech that interrupted everyone's time in the burger joint. The pain that he felt earlier was no longer an issue, as adrenaline was flowing everywhere in his body.

"W-What?! What happened to Penny?! Tell me!"

The two was causing a scenery in the restaurant. Everybody stopped eating and looked at the duo's commotion.

Isn't this all too familiar?

Tobias raises his head slightly upward. Tears are all over his lower face. Cheeks, eyelids, lips, chin, all flooded with tears.

"... _S-She's dead…_ _She's fucking dead, man.._ _"_

"...What?"

Tobias shoot his head up, more tears spew, and his eyes were bloodier than before.

" **SHE'S DEAD! SHE FUCKING KILLED HERSELF WITH PILLS! SHE'S GONE, AND NOW I'M FACING WITH THE FUCKING FACT, THAT I COULD'VE PREVENTED ALL OF THIS IF I DID SOMETHING ABOUT IT!"**

Tobias facial expression went from anger to sadness the second he was done yelling at Rob. He dropped his head again and began brawling louder than before. One lady left her table and walked towards the weep child. She placed her hand on his shoulder and crouched down to his level.

She whisper something in Tobias's ear, but it was so quiet that it was only heard between the lady and Tobias.

As her husband came and comfort Tobias, crying his heart out, Rob took one step back and threw himself back onto the red chair.

Dead.

Penny Fitzgerald is dead. All because she couldn't take it. She couldn't take it that her boyfriend passed away way too soon.

Dead.

He couldn't believe it. He didn't want to believe it. He wished this was all rumor that went out of hand, my god did he wished this was just a rumor. He couldn't believe two young, innocent children are now buried twelve-feet under in a coffin, all because one of them didn't see a point in living in this so called Amazing World.

He felt his stomaching turning into knots and his throat becoming queasy. He felt sick. He's going to throw up.

As the lady took notice in Rob and asked if he was okay, he jumped up and ran towards the entrance. He took a sharp left and ran into the parking lot. From there, he hugged onto the nearest streetlight and started hurling.

Lucky for him, nothing serious came out. The only thing coming out of him was drops of saliva. It's as if his body refuses to let go the chewed up burger he had earlier. Good. He doesn't want to walk out of here on an empty stomach again.

Once he starts feel better, he looked back at the restaurant and from the view of the window, saw a dozen of people checking up on Tobias as he still has his head on the table.

It's probably best for him to not go back inside and check up to see if he is okay. He already caused too much agony and stress for him tonight, and coming back would just made the situation worse.

He took one last look at the scenery before turning right and heading back to his usual hideout.

 _Holy shit…_ Was all Rob could think about tonight. He can't believe Gumball attacked Tobias like that. In his standards, the worse the kid could do is stop talking to you for a whole week. For him to resort to violence is so... unlike of him.

And Penny. She's...

Fuck…

The amount of pain his heart felt was unbearable. He saw Penny and Gumball to be the happiest couple in Elmore. It's like they never knew what saddest was, because of how cheerful they were when they're together. For them to kill each other over themselves, was… Unreal…

He asked questions, and he did receive the answers.

But this. This was too much for the distressed cyclops.


	2. Chapter 2

Penny Fitzgerald.

Deceased.

Cause of Death?

Suicide by overdose.

These four words kept repeating inside Rob's head as he makes his way towards Abby Rd.

Penny Fitzgerald is dead, and although there was no suicide note explaining her actions, it was obvious she blamed herself for what happened to Gumball. She couldn't take the guilt, knowing that their argument was the breaking point for her former boyfriend.

Rob was hoping to get some closure from Tobias, to make him worry less that he's already in, but instead, it just made Rob question more about the whole situation.

He wonders how the remaining Wattersons and Fitzgeralds are holding up with the loss of their children. He's hopes and wishes for the best on both sides and hopes no else decides that life no longer has a purpose because two teens thought so first.

…

Aw, fuck... why did he have to bring up a question like that?

Rob reaches to Summer Blvd, an area that leads him to the Elmore Mall, a usual area Rob is in. This area takes him to an Apartment called Casa Grande Pines.

Rob has never seen anyone around this building, nor has he ever saw anyone come in and come out.

If it wasn't for the great condition the apartment was in, he would've assumed the place was abandoned. The building only consists the whole front side to be grey brick, while the everything behind it just remained pearly white, as if the construction workers decided to mainly focus on the front side, making it eye-appealing and luxurious, and just half-assed the rest.

As if it even mattered. The residents here don't even come out to enjoy the view of the complex. Or outside, for the matter.

For some reason, the upper-left corner window is always open but had it blinds closed from the public's eyes, embarrassed to be seen. Meanwhile, the opposite side was a pitch black apartment room with a grey-colored cat that stares down at Rob with its bulging eyes.

Blue eyeballs with black pupils. The only color the room gives off.

Rob stops to admire the cat as it claws the glass in excitement. He swears that every time he makes his way towards the apartment, the cat tries its best to dig through the window. His guess is that all the cat wants is to meet Rob and befriend him.

It's cute in a way. Too bad it's locked up in some pitch black prison with the window it's being the only source of entertainment for the cat. Why else would it always be in front of it, looking down for bypassers to say hi to? Been like it ever since Rob discovered this location.

Deep inside, Rob would also like to play with the cat. All he does all day for the past six-months is walking around Elmore trying to survive hunger and occasionally harassment, scavenging coins, avoiding being thrown out in restaurants and parks by shopkeepers and overprotective mothers, walking till his body cries for rest.

It's been the same task ever since, so something as little as killing time to play with animals would bring a smile to Rob's face.

Rob looked away and just kept walking. The more he looks at the cat the more depressed he gets. Not only does it remind him about his current lifestyle, but the cat's eyes remind him of Gumball, which reminds him of Penny.

Which reminded him that they're both dead.

As Rob kept walking towards Summer Blvd, he hears a faint police siren from across his left side. The more he walks, the louder it gets. Louder and louder till the point it becomes noticeable that it just wasn't one police siren.

It was multiple.

Rob decided to walk faster than before. It's not like he has anything else better to do. He was going to reach the mall either way. By the time he reaches nearly to the end of Summer and the beginning of the Sutty St, a red van came into view.

And from there, everything went slow. Rob must be going crazy, moments like this such as time going slow only happen in movies when something bad is about to happen, as if an ongoing car is about to hit the main character or bullets being fired and everything goes slow for the protagonist avoids death.

While in the moment, Rob took notice of the van's appearance.

It's a red van, already mentioned before. But what makes this van so special was the multiple around its right side, with colors such as red, tan, with one white marking being the biggest out of all of them.

He turns his attention towards the driver's side of the van to see who was behind the wheel. He didn't get a good look at his face, but the shadowy humanoid figure gave it away on who it was.

The Van Shopkeeper.

* * *

 **"DAMN THESE PIGS!"**

The Shopkeeper took both arms and made an aggressive U-turn to try to shake off the cops. It's somewhat helped because two cop cars crashed into each other trying to catch up to him.

Now there are only 3 cars behind him.

He should've known to never leave the Elmore Mall's parking garage and made himself open to the cops. Doesn't make it any better than the customer he was dealing with was a snitch who was just in it for the bounty money that was on his head.

The only person he has to blame was himself. He drove in the van that was infamous around Elmore. He should've just hot-wired a car and took his product with him.

Another aggressive right turn towards the neighborhood. This time no luck shaking off the remaining cop cars on his tail.

To his luck, however, some car parked in the driveway decided to back up in such a quick movement, as if the person behind the wheel was hitting the gas pedal.

Before the car could get in the way of the van, The Shopkeeper turn the steering wheel to the left to get out of the reversing car's way. After he manages to squeeze through, he heard collusion of cars being followed. He looked up towards his rearview mirror and sure enough, the reversing car disrupted the whole pursuit, with the leading car hitting the rear end of the car, closing any opening for the other two to go through.

The Shopkeeper slapped his steering twice and let out a victory laugh in excitement. He has no idea if that car was supposed to stop his van, or if the man had no idea what was going on, but it didn't matter to him, no cops are chasing after him and he can return to the parking garage.

He's safe, for now.

* * *

Rob kept his hands in his pockets and kept his eyes on the sidewalk, hoping to find a quarter or a dime as he makes his way towards Elmore Mall.

Damn, he can't believe he witnesses the Shopkeeper's car chase in action.

In broad daylight. It's been a while since he last did business with him in person, trying to buy his illegal goods.

For his reason of buying the supplies from the notorious portable black-market; "The Awesome Store" as some may call it, was to hurt Gumball.

He remembers going through the back of that van for what seemed like hours, in search of trying to find the perfect tool for his revenge, when he finally stumbled upon the deadliest weapon to ever lay in Elmore.

The Universal Remote.

That remote. A basic gray TV remote with it usual buttons such as menu, volume control, and play button.

A remote that had the ability to freeze time or a particular person, rewind back and forward in time, open a portal to the Void, eject anything that came across in the users way, mutes anything that makes noise, slows time, and on top of that, has the ability to increase or decrease someone's lifespan.

A remote that cost $12.99.

How that Van-guy managed to get a hold of that remote or why he was charging it for that kind of price, remains another mystery for Rob.

No parking spots in sight. Figures, today is Tuesday.

Over at the distance, he sees a man rolling down his window having a heated argument with some frat kid over for a parking space, with his wife in the passenger side trying to lessen the anger from the two.

Rob can't make out what both of them are saying, but whatever it is, it'll lead off with the kid heading towards the mall unharmed.

As he makes his way through the parking lot, he looked up to where the entrance is facing and saw a family walking out of the mall, with nothing but happiness surrounding them.

A mother hand-in-hand with her husband as he holds their daughter with his other remaining hand, being the bridge for two girls. Meanwhile, a little boy rushes in from the entrance and goes by his mother side to tugs on her finger to get her attention.

Bringing her attention towards her son, he brings his hands up to show his mother and father what he has in his hand, jumping in excitement.

Two pink-and-blue swirl rubber ball. Obvious gotten them from the Spiral Gumball Machine that replaced gumball with rubber balls.

The mother gave her son a warm smile and gave him a high five. That smile that she gave him, it made Rob felt…

Warmth.

That smile.

It's like the happiness that surrounded the family reached out to Rob and gave him a glimpse of what happiness is supposed to feel.

Is that what having a family is like? Being next to someone who loves and cares for you?

Being next to people who can make you forget all your issues the moment you feel the presence of a loved one? All that positive energy that just orbits everyone involved.

As Rob attention continues to fixate onto the family, he suddenly stopped and his attention moves back towards himself.

His eye dilated, his insides feeling tugged and squeamish. His body temperature dropping at such an alarming rate. Seconds later, a female behind him started yelling to get his attention.

"OH MY GOD! I'M SO SORRY I DIDN'T MEAN T-"

Rob swung both his hands around his stomach and dropped down to his knees, letting the rest of his body follow until he's in a fetal position on the cold hard black surface.

" **AH! AAH! AAAAHHHH!** "

* * *

Carrie was now freaking out. Some random teenage boy is on the floor, convulsing and whimpering.

This has never happened before. She was just minding her own business, being on her phone and what not, when all of a sudden her entire body felt pressured for a moment. She snapped back into reality and turn around to see that she nearly possessed some random stranger body unintentional.

Usually, when she does something like this she goes all in, taking over the body and going on a food binge. But her just coming in-and-out of someone's body may have punctured him inside or made his liver unresponsive!

 **"I'M SORRY! I'M SORRY! I'M SORRY! I'M SORRY! I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW YOU WERE IN FRONT OF ME AND I WAS JUST WALKING BY. I DIDN'T MEAN TO DO THIS ON PURPOSE!** "

In response, Rob turned his whole body towards the direction the voice was coming from and tilted his head upwards.

 **"WHAT THE FUCK!** *gasp* **WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?!** "

"I don't know! This never happened before! Are you alright? Is ev-"

 **"I'M** \- *whimpers* **I'M DYING!** *gasp* **SOMEONE HE-** "

Carrie flew into Rob and finished off what she never wanted to start. After adjusting to the newly discovered body, she felt comfortable with it. Not in her standards, but the insides felt warm and in place, unlike what she felt earlier.

However, the stomach felt empty. It's like this kid hasn't eaten anything all day. This feeling is making her second guess to leave this body and go on eating-binge. To not only satisfy her but maybe even help him pack a meal or two in this poor empty belly.

However, she needs to know if the kid is alright.

Feeling confident that everything's fine, besides the empty stomach, she flew out thru his mouth and await a response from the distressed cyclopes.

Nothing but a couple of bystanders and heavy breathing from Rob surrounded from the parking lot.

A minute or two after she possessed his body, Rob picked himself up and brushed off any dirt that gotten on him.

Throughout the whole, Carrie's eyes never left. "You ok-"

Rob brought his hands up before she could finish. "I'm fine! I'm fine. Just worried that my heart or liver failed. What was that?"

"I accidentally somewhat possessed you when I wasn't looking. May have moved some organs out of their original position during that. Don't why your body was cold, never felt that before…" Carrie stated as she flips her hair.

Rob grabbed his left elbow, blushing madly. Having someone going through your insides felt.. violating...

Carrie notices the reddish clouds forming across his cheeks, and knew he was feeling embarrassed. In response, she grins devilishly.

"What's wrong? Never had a girl touched you before like that~"

Rob was taken a step back from that comment. His blushes broke from his cheeks and ran across, trying to cover the whole face.

"W-What? NO! It's just that yo-"

Carrie burst out laughing as she grabs hold onto her stomach, amused by Rob's sudden change of attitude. She too was blushing from this, but not a severe compared to Rob.

"Oh man! You can't lie, it was kinda funny seeing you all distressed like that! You screaming as if you were gonna die!" She continues laughing.

Rob was obviously annoyed with Carrie's laughing fit. Her reaction to his near-death experience and an attempt at flirty embarrassed him and made Rob want to walk away from the scenery.

Carrie's laughter slowly died down to a couple of chuckles. She flipped her hair back and faced Rob.

"Oh man, sorry if I'm acting like a complete bitch, but that was funny!"

"No it wa-"

"But man, your stomach is seriously empty. I had to hold myself back from using your body for my binge-eating because I thought you might die or something. Now that everything's fine, the only thing you need to worry about now is filling up that poor stomach of yours."

Rob was about to respond, that is until Carrie flew right in front of his face; a strange energy flowing through the two as if Rob's body is expecting to be possessed again.

"Come with me to the food court! I know a way on how we can get a butt-load of fries and burgers for free! Maybe I can help you with that stomach of yours if you let me use it~" Carrie stated, putting both her hands under her chin in excitement.

Before Rob can even let out a whole complete sentence in the conversation, Carrie flew back into the double-doors of the entrance, leaving Rob alone in the parking lot.

So.

Many.

Questions Rob wanted to ask, like how she'll be able to give Rob food with no strings attached. He highly doubts she'll even pay for it all, for she is a ghost.

Curious and hungry, Rob jogs through the crowd of confused bystanders and makes his way towards the entrance.

* * *

After not seeing any police cars gaining behind him for a solid ten minutes, the Shopkeeper decided to head down towards the Elmore Mall and hide in the parking garage for a day or two. Who knows how long?

That's it, no more deliveries for now on. Majority of them always turn out to be bait for him, and even when they're not, the buyers usually "cop-out" and decided it's too risky to be seen with a wanted man like him.

Come to think of it, only two deliveries were successful. And even those didn't give the Shopkeeper any profit to be proud of.

As the van begins heading towards the mall on Charleston Blvd, the Shopkeeper let his right hand go of the steering wheel and began hitting the Seek button, hoping to hear the news radio reporting his last sighting.

After going through useless music stations and dead connections, he stumbles upon the voice of Kip Schlezinger, the Anchorman for Elmore News.

" **...adly, no follow up sightings for the notorious Shopkeeper is being reported as of now, as the only authority chasing after him were three police cars and no police aviation. He was last seen in Briarwood Ln as three cars pursuit the van until a civilian in his late 70's backed up in front of the chase and gotten in the middle between police and the Shopkeeper. The elder, who will be not named, reportedly started he mistaken the gas pedal for the breaks. We here at Elmore News wishes local communities to the stay safe and alert authorities if any sightings for a red van with multiple graffiti markings.** "

Good. Nothing was chasing after him and no one knows where else he is. He began pressing down the gas pedal harder and gripped the steering wheel harder and steady. Just because he was safe doesn't mean he's completely off the hook yet. He's still out in public with now van that is being described by Kip.

" **In other news, Richard Watterson, the father of the past Gumball Watterson, was found dead this morning by neighbors who were trying to get a hold of Mr. Watterson, only to find that no one responded to the phone calls and letters they've sent. It's been reported that the cause of d-** "

The Shopkeeper decided he had enough of the news report and decided the turn into 107.5, his favorite rock station.

Coming out through the black asphalt, he faintly sees the Elmore Mall glistening in the distance. With its windows reflecting back the colors of the sunset.

* * *

The Elmore Mall. A place to go when your off at school or having the day off from work.

Here, you can come inside with your friends to laugh and socialize. Or just come in all by yourself to find clothes that match for you. No paperwork being due, no deadlines, no hassle. This place makes you forget your issues and have a fun time.

However, today the mall seems anything but laughter and cheerful.

No, instead of seeing that at all, the only thing Rob is hearing are screams coming from the food court and a dozen of teens and adults running away from the mall's hotspot.

This must've been what Carrie mean when she said "a butt-load of fries and burgers for free!"

Food that's been already been touched and bitten by others?

Wow. Even in his condition, that's disgusting.

….

Well...

"That's a lie, I'll still eat it.." Rob thought as he tries his best to get out of people's way as they run towards the exit.

He doesn't care if it's been bitten or not. Sure it may be cold, but it's still edible. For crying out loud he started off going through trash bins for food the first day he realizes he was homeless.

While walking towards the escalators, four others came running down from the other side in fear and terror, all while Rob completely ignores the four, remaining stationary with a tired look.

Reaching to the top of the second level. Rob continued walking down the corridor and into the food court where the chaos started.

Clear view, he sees a three-inched greyish-blueish blob figure on top of the only remaining table standing as he is in a tug-of-war match with an orange-colored female with an abnormally large head.

Walking closer towards the two, he sees that they're both fighting over for a hamburger.

" **QUiT iT, BITCH! jUSt HaNd OVEr THE bURGer!"**

"BILLY?! What is wrong with you?! You never acted like this before! STOP IT! STOOOP IT!" Felicity remarked as she's trying pulling the hamburger away from her possessed son.

Billy. That must be his name. Due to the almost identical figure the two have, Rob assumed they're both mother and son.

"Oh boy, that kids going to wake into a life a trouble after this…"

The whole food court was trashed as Joyful Burger wrappers, empty soda cups, chairs, tables, shopping bags all were scattered everywhere on the floor and booths.

A cashier from a coffee shop hopped off the counter and started running from the court.

Rob decided to intervene.

"Hey, leave the kid alone. It's pretty fucked up that you had to possess a little boy just to get us free food. You could've at least taken someone who's an adult and not have his own mother fight against him." Rob said taking a step forward.

The cashier was running towards Rob's direction and decided it would a good opportunity to convince Carrie to let Billy's body alone. Rob extended his left leg to the side and tripped the barista.

"Aye man, what th-"

Rob grabbed both his legs and dragged him towards the two.

 **"NO! LET ME GO, MAN! YOU'RE FUCKING CRAZY! HE'LL KILL BOTH OF US!"** The barista pleaded as he tries to kick himself out of Rob's grip. He did manage to kick Rob in the hip twice, but even that wasn't enough to stop Rob from sacrificing the anxious coffee-maker.

" **HEY**! If you're gonna wanna use someone's body, use this one!" Rob yelled, trying to gain Carrie's attention.

And it worked. The Carrie-Possessed Billy turns his attention towards Rob and focused on the live meal Rob has brought out for her.

The barista, a humanoid-teen with a paper bag for a face and black afro for his hairstyle, stared at Billy in fear of what's gonna happen next.

Billy grinned at the scarred paper-boy and started to hurl.

Carrie emerged from Billy's mouth and flew into the mouthpiece out the paper-bag. From then, the barista started convulsing, and then aggressive head shaking, and then comes the color-draining from the skin as his healthy peachy skin-tone fades into a grey skin-tone.

Billy started to regain concussions and placed his palm on his head. Felicity got off from the chair and came into her son's aid. "Billy, oh my gosh… Can you hear me?"

The only response Billy let out was a groan as his eyelids blinked slowly. Felicity notices this and grabbed hold of her son and rushed out of the court and into one of the escalators. Audible thumping can be heard from it as Felicity tries to run for help as fast as he can.

Rob looked down at the possessed-barista in annoyance and placed his back wrist on his hips.

"Look, at first I was down to get some free food, but I didn't expect you to go off like this! Look at this place, it's a pigsty in here! Someone has to clean this place!"

"S-s-sorry, I got excited…" The barista said as he pushed himself to his feet and wander off to see what food he can grab.

Rob let out a deep sigh and went along also. He's in trouble anyways, so he mind as well get caught on a full stomach. He grabbed a perfectly wrapped XXL burrito and a hand full of fires and sat onto one of the booths.

As he unwrapped the tin-foil and munches down on the burrito and fries, her overhears loud rambling and aggressive chewing from across.

Leaning forward, he sees Carrie using the body as freely as possible. Because there she is, grabbing any food in sight and eating meals with the wrapping still attached.

Jeeez, talk about the lack of etiquette…

* * *

Perfect timing.

Not only is the parking garage lane empty, but everyone in the mall is huddled up in the entrance. By the looks of it, a fight broke out in the mall?

Whatever it is, the Shopkeeper has other things to worry about. Things such as trying to get inside the parking garage as fast as possible without being seen. In clear view of the driveway that leads inside the garage, the Shopkeeper press down hard onto the gas pedal and hauls inside away from public eye.

* * *

Two XXL chicken burrito and two large-fries down and Rob is now stuffed.

Not stuffed in his standards. Like one meal to quiet the stomach down for an hour kind of stuffed. No, he was so full his stomach was in slight pain.

A good pain to feel.

Meanwhile, Carrie has already left the barista body and feels quite satisfied with her food-binge.

As for the barista?

He's currently inducing a food-comatose.

Carrie flies around the court in search of Rob. Seeing him in one of the booths, she slowly floats down towards the chair facing the opposite of him.

"Man, did I say I get us food or what?" Carrie said closing her eyes proudly as she has her arms crossed.

Although satisfied with having a real meal in a while, Rob was not pleased with HOW they got free food. Rob mirrored Carrie and crossed his arms also.

"Not really…" Rob started with a hint of anger. "Like, I'm really happy you went through this for me, and a bit for yourself, but people got hurt today because of you. And not only that, so many people are going to give that Billy-kid crap because now they see him as some freak..."

Carrie unfolded her arms and gave Rob a sadden look."Yeah, I probably shouldn't have picked him. Now I feel bad now…"

"But, you know… Thanks for giving me a real meal for the first time in my life." Rob butted in, smiling at Carrie.

"W-Wait… Real meal? Are you... poor?" Carrie now looked at Rob with a facial expression mix with sadness and shocked.

"No, I'm homeless. Always has been. Ever since I left… Uh, from home. Didn't really had a place to go when I came to Elmore. I started sleeping in park benches and subways at first. But it usually ends with other homeless people trying to pocket me from money or trying to have their way with me."

Rob cringed mention that last part. There have been many times homeless women and men that tried groping Rob when he was asleep.

Carrie flipped her hair back and tugged left arm. "Seriously? You ran away from home? How long have you been homeless for?"

"For about three months now." Rob replied.

Carrie was taken back from the response. "Seriously? Wow, for a guy that's been homeless for three months, you're still kinda cute..."

Rob was now blushing madly than earlier from the parking lot incident. This time to the point where he's biting the lower part of his lips. Never in his life was he ever been called cute. "Y-You're just fucking with me…"

Carrie didn't respond, just blushed harder in response, smiling shyly.

Rob had no idea how to respond to this. Should he say she's cute too? Ask her out? No, he hasn't brushed for the longest time, so he's breath probably wreaks like garbage that been in the sun for weeks. If he bathed and had better hygiene, he'll probably make a move on her.

"Thanks… Hehe… Funny, I also forgot to mention I once broke into someone's house one time and slept in their basement for the longest time. Went on for a week until they found me." Rob said, trying to change the subject.

Carrie smiled bigger at Rob that before. Obviously amused. "You broke into someone's house? ***snort*** How did it go when they found you?"

Rob lean in onto the table with his forearms resting, happy to see that Carrie was interested to hear his stories.

"It was weird, at first they were scared of me, but then they went after me and tried giving me a reason to be here in Elmore. It was stupid, but I enjoyed their company. They wanted me to play villain for them."

Carrie's interested slowly drop. Not the kind of response she was hoping to hear. Sounded like he was found by some four year-old kids.

"Uhhh… Okay… Who were the two?"

"Oh, it was the blue cat and a orange fish named Gumball and Darwin."

…

Silence.

Rob notices the sudden change from Carrie's face. From slight boredom to complete shock. It scared Rob.

"Y-You knew Gumball?!"

Rob brought his arms back and let them rest onto his legs. He sat back, but never leaving Carrie's gaze. "I did, yes. I guess you knew them both too, huh?"

"I did. I dated Gumball's brother before until he texted me saying he's moving into San Francisco, and that we couldn't be together anymore… It broke me… He didn't say goodbye to me in person." Carrie replied, leaving her eyes away from Rob and onto the table.

Hearing that, Rob stand up straight and had his full attention onto the ghostly female "W-Wait. Darwin left Elmore?! W-When was this?"

"Two days ago. Before he went ghost on me, he told me everything that happened in his house before they left..."

* * *

 _ **5:27 AM**_

 _ **Sunday, twelve days since the death of Gumball Watterson**_

 _Nicole couldn't sleep. She couldn't._

 _How can she sleep in the same bed with the man that killed her gummypuss?_

 _If he just, fucking, decided to be a real father for once and tried to spend some time with Gumball, maybe he would still be alive today._

 _Better yet, been happier for once._

 _Because of him, Darwin and Anais followed his footsteps and distances themselves from Gumball. Because of him, Gumball fell deeper into his depression and made the situation worse than before. Because of him, Gumball was having problems in school and starting fights. Because of him, Gumball and Penny fought._

 _Because of him, Gumball is no longer part of her life now... She wakes everyday with one less mouth to feed, one less child to love, one less child care..._

 _She wants to leave him. To leave the fat, ungrateful bastard. Away from this house. The house that reminds Nicole of waking up to cooking breakfast, only to be eating in the dinner table in silence and frustration. The house that'll remind Nicole that nothing will ever be the same again._

 _She'll take custody of Darwin and Anais. She'll raise them to be better siblings towards each other and to see how much of a terrible father Richard was to Gumball; to them…_

 _And that's what she'll do._

 _Pulling the blankets off of her. She let her legs dangle off the bed for a second or two before placing her feet on the carpet floor. Before she can go inside the closet and pull out a luggage. She needs to wake up Darwin and Anais first._

 _Thunder roars from the outside. There's a thunderstorm going. Which is perfect, the noise from the thunder will keep Richard from hearing Nicole leaving._

 _Leaving her bedroom, she marches down the hallway and into the children's bedroom. Opening the door, she walks over to see the fishbowl is empty. Instead, Darwin is sitting on Gumball's bed with headphones in his ears, tears streaming down on his cheeks._

 _It broke Nicole seeing Darwin like this. It obvious he hated himself for what happened to his brother._

 _Surprise to see Nicole up this late, Darwin removed an earbud from his left ear and faced his mother._

 _"Mrs. Mom, what a-"_

 _Thunderbolts from the outside gave out two quick flashes of light inside the room. In those two flashes, Darwin has gotten a good look from Nicole._

 _It's as if he's seeing his own reflection. Nicole was looking down on Darwin with fresh tears spewing down._

 _"Pack up your stuff Darwin, we're leaving here with Anais." Nicole said, gripping her hands._

 _Hearing this, Darwin removed his right earbud and gotten off the bed. "W-W-W-Wait. What about Mr. D-"_

 _Nicole took a step forward and grabbed Darwin by the arm. Taking him towards the closet, she threw down towards the floor and open the closet doors, pulling out a black luggage they own from an earlier trip and throwing it towards Darwin. Hitting him in the mouth._

 _"Not another word, pack!" Nicole quietly but forcefully shouted. Darwin now in fear, began going through the toy box and draws, doing what he was demanded him to do._

 _"Mommy…"_

 _Nicole turns around and sees Anais waking up. Unlike Darwin, she was asleep the whole time._

 _Nicole turns back around towards the closet and pulls out a Daisy The Donkey themed backpack._

 _Two more flashes return from the window, followed off by the loud crackling from the thunder. Nicole tossed the backpack up towards Anais and look at her daughter straight in the eye._

 _"Follow your brother and start packing right now. We're leaving."_

 _Not wanting to argue with her mother, Anais stepped down from the ladder and followed Darwin routine._

 _Now it's Nicole's turn. Returning back towards her bedroom, she slowly opens the door in hope that it doesn't creeks._

 _However, it never mattered. For Richard is wide awake, sitting on the edge of the bed, wearing nothing but his underwear._

 _Nicole is now standing in the middle of the door, frozen in fear. He's awake. Wide awake, yet his eyes never met Nicole's._

 _"Nicole… I'm sorry… I should've listened to you..."_

 _Not wanting to respond to Richard's useless apologies, Nicole headed for the closet and started pulling clothes off from the hanger and into the luggage. All in one swift motion._

 _"If I did talk to him… If I didn't give up on him…."_

 _No reply. The only noise that ever came from the bedroom was the rain hitting onto the window._

 _That, and the zipper from the luggage._

 _Nicole grabbed onto the handle and lifted it off from the closet. One thing is for sure, the next time this luggage is ever going to meet with the ground again is the back of the family van. Heading towards somewhere, anywhere._

 _As long as it's far from here._

 _"Mrs. Mom, we're ready…"_

 _Nicole looks back to see Darwin holding onto the luggage as Anais has her backpack on her back, having her eyes onto the floor and not on Richard who doesn't even bother to hug the kids' goodbye one last time._

 _Because he's not a father for the two anymore. He lost that privilege a long time ago._

 _Nicole went towards the door but not before Richard calls out to Nicole one last time. "Nicole… Please don't leave… You and the kids are all I have right now…"_

 _…_

 _…_

 _Nicole looked back at Richard one last time. She opened her mouth, but immediately closes it. There's nothing left to say. No matter how much he pleads, he already knows the outcome._

 _Nicole took a step forward and left Richard for good, heading down towards the stairs and into the living room, where Gumball placed his suicide note for his family to see._

 _Behind her, were the footsteps of Darwin and Anais._

 _This is it, away from him…_

 _Nicole grips onto the doorknob and twisted it open. The rain pouring as if the whole cloudy dark skies were showerheads._

 _Rainy or not, it doesn't matter._

 _Nicole takes one step forward away from the house. For good._


	3. SoWeMetAgain?

**11:26PM**

 **Wednesday, 8 days after the death of Gumball Watterson.**

 _Penny grabbed the doorknob and turned it. With her left hand, she places it onto the side of the pearl-white door and pulls it upwards as she slowly opens it. Pulling it upwards reduces the creaking from the door. Although a couple did manage to slip out in the process._

 _Halfway through, Penny peaks her head outside to hear if her mom and dad were still asleep. After a few seconds of silence, the snores from her father reassured her that no one woke up to the sound of the door opening. If her father didn't wake up, she's sure as hell her mother and sister didn't wake up either._

 _She turned towards the staircase and headed downstairs to the living room. She quickly glanced at the window that displaces the neighborhood to find the only source of the light outside was the street lights.  
_

 _This tells Penny that she's the only one awake around this time, as no lights from the houses in front of her came to shine._

 _She feels lonely. So fucking lonely…_

 _Even with her family upstairs asleep and breathing, she feels alone in this world without her lover… Her best friend…_

 _Gumball. Gumball Tristopher Watterson._

 _He would still be alive if things didn't get out of hand so fast that day. On the day she saw Gumball all alone in P.E, she went up to him and grabbed his hand, leading him outside to the hallway._

 _She needs to know if he's okay._

" _Hey, baby… Is everything okay?"_

 _She remembers asking him that question as he used both of her hands to cup his right hand. How she used her right hand to pet it, trying to comfort him._

 _He didn't even bother making eye contact with her, however. His eyes were just staring down towards his occupied hand._

 _In response, he pulled his hand away from her and places them into his pockets._

" _Nothing Penny, I'm just tired…"_

 _She should've just left it at that. She should've just understood that he just needed some time alone, to get himself together. But no… Instead of doing any of that, she interrogated him._

" _Gumball, you can talk to me. I ca-"_

" _Penny, please! Nothing's wrong with me. I'm fine! I just didn't get any sleep last night."_

 _Lies._

" _I know there's something wrong, Gumball! You and Tobias were fighting at recess today, and everyone said you threw a rock at him when he was trying to talk to you! Why?! He's your best friend!"_

 _Gumball balls his hands into a fist._

" _ **Penny. I don't want to talk about it."**_

" _All he was doing was asking if you wanted to hang out with him! Why did y-"_

" _ **NO! HE WAS TRYING TO PISS ME OFF! HE'S ALWAYS DOING THAT SHIT!"**_

 _She should've stopped._

 _ **"So you thought it was okay for you to throw a rock at him?! He had to go to the nurse, CRYING, because of you Gumball!"**_

 _ **"QUIT FUCKING LYING TO ME, PENNY! YOU AND EVERYONE HERE AT THIS SCHOOL JUST KEEPS RUNNING THEIR FUCKING MOUTHS ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED BETWEEN US! IT'S NONE OF YOUR FUCKING BUSINESS!"**_

 _She should've never yelled at him._

 _ **"IT IS MY BUSINESS, GUMBALL! YOU HAVE BEEN A COMPLETE TOTAL JERK TOWARDS EVERYONE RECENTLY! WHY ARE YOU ACTING LIKE THIS?!"**_

 _ **"NOTHING! NOTHING'S WRONG, PENNY!"**_

 _ **"YOU'VE BEEN DITCHING, YOU'VE BEEN ISOLATING YOURSELF, YOU DON'T TEXT OR CALL ME ANYMORE, YOU'VE BEEN YELLING AT MY FRIENDS WHEN THEY TRY TO TALK TO YOU, YOU DON'T EVEN BOTHER TO HANG OUT WITH DARWIN ANYMOR-"**_

 _ **"IT'S HIS FUCKING CHOICE THAT HE DOESN'T TALK TO ME, ANYMORE! I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING TO HIM. HE FUCKING HATES ME, PENNY!**_

 _She remembers shedding a few tears at that point. Stupid, he was the one hurting the most and she cries before him?_

 _ **"STOP SWEARING!"**_

 _ **"NO, I HAD IT WITH EVERYONE HERE AT THIS STUPID SCHOOL! CONSTANTLY BUGGING ME EVERY FUCKING SECOND OF THE DAY! THERE'S NOTHING WRONG WITH ME, ALL I WANT IS TO BE LEFT ALONE, GODDAMNIT! IS THAT SO HARD TO HAVE?! HUH?! IS IT?!"**_

 _At this point, her Gummypuss couldn't take it anymore and started crying also._

" _ **EVERYDAY WHEN I COME HERE, I HAD TO RUN TO THE BATHROOM AND TRY TO CALM MYSELF DOWN BEFORE I LOSE MY SHIT! YOU DON'T KNOW HOW MANY TIMES I HAD THE URGE TO BEAT THE LIVING SHIT OUT OF EVERYONE HERE, EVERY FUCKING MINUTE TIME PASSES!?"**_

" _ **I CAN'T STAND IT HERE! I CAN'T STAND WAKING UP TO THE SAME SHIT, EVERYDAY! WITH PEOPLE LIKE YOU BREATHING DOWN MY NECK EVERY FUCKING SECOND! I-I… I JUST WANT TO BE ALONE!"**_

" _ **..."**_

 _As Penny began heading towards the kitchen, flipping the light switch on and letting the fluorescent light burn her eyes, she started feeling anxious. The kitchen. Her mother always loved being in this part of the house. Here, she kept her cookbooks, spices, cleaning supplies, knives…_

 _Sleeping pills..._

" _ **What's wrong with you…"**_

" _ **NOTHING, PENNY! JUST DO YOURSELF A FAVOR AND FUCK OFF! YO-"**_

 _ ***smack***_

 _She slapped him. She was furious that Gumball would ever swear at her. She speed walked passed him and pressed both her hands against the push bar and headed back inside the gymnasium, leaving Gumball all alone in the hallway to comprehend everything that happened._

 _ **If only she knew what the outcome was for slapping him.**_

 _Penny opened one of the walnut-wooden kitchen cabinets to find a dozen pill bottles, pharmacy and commercially, standing before her._

 _ **If she only remained calm throughout the feud.**_

 _Picking up the first two bottles in front of her, she saw the sleeping pills that hid behind, staring at her. She grabs it and opened the cabinet next to her for a glass cup, which she laters on places underneath the sink and pushes the sink handle up._

 _Tap water is disgusting. But does that even matter?_

 _ **She should've apologized. It's never okay to lay a hand on a loved one.**_

 _She heads back to the stairs and walked back into her room, forgetting to close the door behind her. She walks up to her bed and sits next to the edge, but not before placing the glass cup of water next to the nightstand._

 _ **If only she realized what she was doing was a mistake.**_

 _Pressing the lid down with her palm and turning it counter-clockwise, she looks down at the hole, barely seeing all the little tablets inside._

 _Two tablets fell out as she pours everything onto her hand. Fourteen tablets rest on her palm._

 _She brings her hand to her face, pours every last tablet into her mouth, and immediately reaches for the glass cup to drink, indulging every in her mouth rigorously._

 _ **There's no going back. It'll be all over soon, Penny.**_

 _She grabs hold onto her blankets and curls it over her back. She finally cries after holding it in since leaving the room, using the blanket to muffle noise. If this succeeds. If she finally dies in her sleep and she goes to heaven. Will she see Gumball? Will he forgive her?_

 _Will she even go to heaven? Will he? They both committed a sinful act. How can God accept people like them into the gates of heaven after committing such a selfish act, leaving their friends and family in grief?_

 _Either way, it doesn't matter, heaven or hell, she wants to see him again. She wants to comfort him and tell him how sorry she is. She only hopes that he won't be angry to find her in the afterlife, going out the same way he did._

 _Her eyelids are starting to become heavy. She's going to sleep. She just hopes she wakes up, not in her bed, not in some hospital with an IV bag attached to get wrist, but in the afterlife._

 _She lets go of the blanket, drags herself up to her bed, and rests her head onto the cool pillow. She brings the blanket back to herself and closes her eyes, but not before muttering her final words._

" _I'm coming, Gummypuss…."_

 _He always did hate that name._

 _ **The next day, Patrick is woken up to find his first daughter's bedroom door open wide around the time she was supposed to leave for school. He walks in to find Penny curled up into the purple polyester blanket.**_

 _ **Unresponsive, as her father aggressive shakes her lifeless body, crying her name in hopes that she wakes up.**_

* * *

"He later texted me that he's sorry that he left without saying goodbye, and that he wants me to move on… I can't believe they just left their dad like. I can't imagine what's he's going through right now…" Carrie stated as she gives Rob a worried look, afraid for Richard's wellbeing.

"Shit… And he just went ghost on you after?"

"Yeah…" Carrie said as she drags her eyes away from Rob and stares at the floor. "I sent so many messages to him when he sent me his last message. It's was probably like 24 or something. He never bothered responding to any of them. It's been hard going to school without him. He was the only person I was close with there, and now that he's gone, it… sucks."

Rob pulls his hand out and reaches over to touch Carrie's shoulder to comfort her. It didn't even help, for his hand just passes through her, making the whole situation even more awkward between the two.

Rob bring his hand back and cover his left face with his palm, facepalming at his stupidity.

"Sorry. Sorry. I completely forgot you can't physically touch a ghost."

Carrie looked back at Rob. "It's fine. Thanks though, for trying to comfort me."

Rob removes his hand from his face and looks back at Carrie. "What about everyone else? The Fitzgerald's?"

"I haven't heard from them… Teri's parents tried calling them the week after the news broke out about Penny, but nobody answered the house phone. I don't know if anyone else tried to get in contact with them."

Teri.

"Teri..." Rob runs his hands through his hair. "Her and Penny were best-friends… Hope she's doing okay..."

Carrie bends her head slightly down, responding to hearing Teri's name. The whole Cheerleading Squad officially disbanded three days after the death of Penny, although none of the girls involved ever bothered to meet-up for practice ever since.

All the girls who were close to Penny mourn for the loss of their friend, but Teri was the worse out of all of them. Her attitude in life has taken a sharp turn for the worse.

The girl who other students would consider to be brainy now has to make regular trips to Mr. Small's office because the teachers are concerned about her sudden drop in grades.

The girl who's is seen to be an outgoing person, now struggles to even hold a conversation with her own mother.

Worse, is that now some students have witness Teri turning to drugs, such as Molly and Xanax. One of her close friends, Sarah, has seen Teri passed out in one of the bathroom stalls, with her head resting on the toilet paper dispenser, with two blue tablets resting on the edge.

Many questioned as to how a twelve-year-old managed to gain possession these narcotics. Some assumed it could've been Jamie, who sold the stimulates to Teri. Although she has denied ever speaking to her, she has had a history with distributing drugs to people outside of school grounds.

Speaking of Teri, how on earth does he know about he-

Carrie's train of thoughts was suddenly interrupted by the sounds of footsteps across the hallway. Carrie looked a back and waited to see who was coming up, with Rob looking behind her, questioning her sudden movement.

Then came the inaudible sound of the radio scanner.

It's the police.

Popping out of the corner, two police French Fries came sliding in. One of them had a pistols draw out of his holsters, using two of his hands to hold the gun.

"POLICE OFFICER, DON'T MOVE! GET DOWN NOW!" The officer on the left yelled at the two teens, provoking Carrie and scaring Rob, all while his partner reaches for his belt and grabs one of his handcuffs. Rob immediately pushes off the food court table and raises both his arms to the air.

His partner on the right reaches over to grab his gun and forcefully pushes it down. "Jesus Mark, put the gun down! What the hell is wrong with you?! They're just kids!"

"You heard what that lady was talking about when we arrived here, James! These two are dangerous!" Officer Mark pulls his gun away from James' grasp and points it back at the two. "ON THE FLOOR, NOW!"

" **MARK! FOR FU-** " Carrie immediately flew right into James' mouth and possesses him. The aggressive head shaking and twitching made Mark reaching over to his radio to call for backup, almost ripping it off from his uniform in the processes.

"I NEED BACKUP, RIGHT N-"

James has gotten in all fours and bear crawled towards his distress partner, grabbing him by the ankle and pulling me down to the floor, pinning him in the processes.. Mark dropped his pistol once he slammed into the floor. As he tries to push James off, he attempts to reach for his taser, but his partner notices this and kneels his wrist down to the floor.

While all this is happening, Rob is standing in the food court, witnessing the whole action.

All while having his arms remaining in the air.

James turns around to Rob with a trail of saliva hanging from his chin. " **wHAt ARE You StaNdING foR?! rUn!"**

And with that, he started to haul ass out of the food court.

Sad, he never got that girl's name.

* * *

The flashing colors of red and blue haven't died down ever since he managed to drive into the parking garage undetected. He may have been followed after all.

No, it's probably for some other cause. If those cop cars were for him, they would be driving up here inside and surround him with guns pointing at him and yells from trigger-happy police.

As if any of those bullets would hit him. All he is is just a cloud of mist. A rain of bullets firing towards would, at most, only piss him off as it would damage the van he had for seven years and all of his "toys" he has in the back.

He looked down at the radio to read the time.

7:25 PM

It's been ten minutes since he heard the last siren, and by judging the ongoing, non-stop sounds of sirens and car doors slamming, there must be seven or eight cop cars out there.

He grabs hold onto the crank handle and began turning it. If those cop cars are for him, then he would need to get out as fast as possible before reinforcements come.

Halfway open, the Shopkeeper squeezes through the spacing and dashed towards the outside view of the garage. Slowly peeking up from cover, he sees enforcement surrounding the entrance of the mall. Four cops remained near in their vehicles, while the other four were talking to bystanders, possibly in for questioning.

All of which, were not facing in his direction.

As he was about to fade back into the shadow to hide from the public eye, loud screaming could be heard from the inside of the mall. Before anyone could make any sudden movement, the glass door came in the opening, almost hard enough for the handles to hit the wall.

Coming out of the door, was one of the French Fry officers, Mark. Which was a horrible sight for everyone to see, as he came out with the left side of his face bitten off.

As he tried to get himself up, in the opening of his bite mark came the possessed James running at him in full speed. James bolted through the door and pinned Mark on the floor to finish him off. Grabbing him by the back of the neck, James continued off what he started and bite off another part of his partner, this time the lower neck area.

" **AHHHHHHRGGGGGRRR! GET HIM OFF! GET HIM OFF!"**

Two officers, a coffee cup and a hamburger, pulled both of their guns out and pointed at James. The Hamburger Officer took one step forward and screamed his possessed partner an order "LET HIM GO, JAMES! I SWEAR TO GOD I'LL SHOOT!"

Both of the French Fries snapped back at the direction of the shouting. In James' point of view, all he could really focus on was the barrel of the Glock 19 pointing down near his lower neck area.

Mark brings his right hand up and screams back at the man behind the gun. " **MATT! PUT THE DOWN GUN! HE'S BEING POSSESSED! HE HAS NO CONTROL ON WHAT HE'S DOING!"**

A single strain of tear came running down across his cheek. " **P-PLEASE DON'T KILL HIM!"**

The pressure of his neck loosened as his partner eases his grip and let's go of the pleading officer. As Mark rolls his whole body over to look at Mark, he sees his partner hurling at the officers in front of him.

Carrie flew out of Mark's mouth and came into view of the two officers. Her hands sticking out in front of them and began pleading to the two.

" **PLEASE DON'T SHOOT! IT WAS ALL MY FAULT! I HAD NO CONTROL OF MY ACTIONS AND GOTTEN CARRIED AWAY WI-"**

" **GET ON THE FLOOR, NOW!"**

Carrie remained still for a while. Then, do as what she was told to do, flew down into the sidewalk, escaping from the police.

Returning to the Shopkeepers view, three other officers came running down to the scene and assisted the two French Fries who were currently on the floor, one of them being in serious health condition, and the other one unconscious.

Man, he wished he would have felt some kind of emotion after witnessing someone eating their own kind in a ferocious matter. But all it really did was made him realize how easy it would be to dispose of a body. That is if you ever stumbled upon someone who seemed quite tasty.

Instead, he was feeling absolute terror as the elevator dings came to fill the silence around the garage, following by the sound of the door sliding open.

Turning his head around to face the direction of the noise behind him, came into view of a disfigured cyclops, panting with his hands on his knees and his butt pressed against the wall.

The same disfigured cyclops who he made business with a long time ago.

He should've swum back inside to his van. He should've faded into the shadows and remain hidden. But no, instead he became frozen the moment the kid brings his head up and stare right directly into his eyes.

* * *

It's him. The fugitive at large, staring down at him.

The only sound coming from the garage was the cars a floor below running across the speed bump. None of the two even dared to say a word.

Rob was the first to break eye contact and slowly traveled his gaze to the chrome elevator buttons, mainly eyeing at level 1.

Then he returned his gaze to the shadowy figure standing before him.

He only went up to his floor to hide from the police's ongoing search for him. Returning down to the first floor would leave him wide open handcuffs and the taste of asphalt as an officer kneels on his back and pulls his arm all the way to his back.

 _ **Fuck it.**_

Rob pushes himself off from the handrail and reaches out to the control panel. In the corner of his eye, he sees the Shopkeeper already running at him in full speed.

Rob pressed hard onto one of the buttons. He didn't even bother to look at what button to press, hell, he didn't bother to press it with one finger.

He smacked the panel with his whole palm and aimed for the **Close Door** button, pressing it vigorously and repeatedly.

He doesn't even know if the door closed or not, because seconds later, he was indulged by darkness as a sudden push sent him flying towards the elevator wall.

* * *

"Jesus…"

The Shopkeeper flew back a bit and observed the damage he has caused. Not only is there a noticeable dent in the wall, but his former customer was the floor, unconscious.

"Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit…"

He didn't mean to hurt the kid. Even when his deliveries go bad and end in getting in trouble with the authorities, never has he ever went physical in those situations. The usual go-to plan is to just drive off.

But here he is, standing in front of some teen who came in at the wrong place at the wrong time, potentially becoming a hostage if the cops manage to find him here, hiding.

As he grabs hold of Rob's ankles and starts dragging him towards his van, he tried convincing himself that knocking the kid cold was the right thing to do.

He began thinking that the reason why Rob was trying to get down to the first floor as fast as possible was that he was going to start running outside to the police and scream at them about how he saw the Shopkeeper in the parking garage.

"Yeah, that what he was trying to do…" The Shopkeeper said to himself.

The garage level wasn't as silent as before. Now the only noise in that area was the sound of clothing being dragged across the asphalt.

* * *

Ringing...

The first thing Rob can remember from waking up was the constant ringing from both his ears. Then came the stinging sensation from the hard cold floor that ran through his face and arms.

As he tries to bring himself up, the ringing from his ears worsens to the point where his forehead started to pound, as if the little cells inside his brain are banging at the ears to stop the constant sound of ringing.

Rob tried to open his eyes to see, but all he could make out was a blurry insight of darkness.

" _my head… jesus christ, my head…."_

Seconds later, the ringing in his ears soon starting to fade away. A minute later, he started to regain his sights. Minutes later, he fully conscious, with the only exception that the banging inside his head hasn't stopped at all.

Rob looked around to see lit candles surrounding the whole van. It seems to be the only light source inside.

On top of the candles were wooden boxes and bookcases that carried books with languages Rob has never seen in his life. Come to think of it, the majority of those probably aren't even real languages, some are just… markings…

Against the left wall were swords mounted against the wall with a wooden carrier. Two of them were average looking Katanas. The other two are seemed to be made with a "rocky" kind of material.

In the middle of the van, was a red display column with a purple pillow on top. The only material the pillow had on top of it was a folded paper card with the words " **SOLD"** written across with red ink.

All of this didn't scare Rob at all.

Instead, what scared Rob was that in front of him wasn't the view of the driver side of the van and the windshield that displayed the view of what was outside, instead, he was looking at the back door of the van being chained up by the man that dragged him here in the first place.

That when it hit him. He was here because he tried to escape, but not before the Shopkeeper caught up to him and slammed him against the wall. The only thing Rob can remember after that was darkness.

As slowly and quietly as possible, Rob placed one of his hands and the ground and tried to bring himself up to his feet. The Shopkeeper hasn't noticed that he was awake, so if he can try to get up without making any n-

* **smack***

None of that matter though, underneath Rob was a farmhouse chandelier with hooks nailed across the wooden beam. As he hit his head, the keys that were hooked onto the hooks started to rattle in response to being touched.

And with that, the Shopkeeper paused his chaining of the exit door and turn around to see his temporary hostage standing on his own two feet, awake from his slumber.

Seeing his kidnapper's eyes made Rob tripped over his own feet. His ass slams down onto the hard surface of the van as he tries to kick himself away from the Shopkeeper. No words left from his mouth, only gasp.

The Shopkeeper slowly flew left and right at Rob, trying to avoid hitting any displaces that were in his way. Getting into his face, the Shopkeeper rises up and was the one to finally speak up ever since their interaction.

"So," The Van Shopkeeper spoke in his usual gravel voice. "We met again…"


	4. Chapter 4

Had it not been for the jingles of the keys that rang above the two, you could hear Rob's pounding heart hammering down against his ribcage.

Rob hesitated to speak up to his former partner. Hell, he's even afraid to breathe in front of him, for he is unaware that his lungs are burning for air. As he tries to gain the courage to speak up for himself, the Shopkeeper continues to stare him down with his notoriously bright, white eyes.

Thinking that he was too afraid to respond to his statement, he spoke again.

"You tried to run to the police… You were going to tell them that I was here and have me arrested…"

The Shopkeeper bought both of his hands out and grasped the frightened teen by his arms.

" **You are damn lucky that you're standing on your own! I should've broken your fucking legs when you were out!"**

Rob inhaled deeply after hearing the Shopkeeper speak once again. He was still afraid, but this time he hopes to convince the foggy humanoid that it wasn't the case, that he wasn't going to snitch him out to the police.

"I-I-I was only trying to run away from you because you were going to try to hurt me…"

Hearing the teen speak, the Shopkeeper lowered his head and was now a couple of inches away from his face, all while still holding onto him. A light scent of B.O. came when doing so, but it wasn't enough for him to move back in disgust.

Still intimidating, but lowering the tone of his voice, the shadow responded.

"Kid… You trying to run away, **was** , the reason why I knocked you cold back there… You brought this on yourself..."

Making his point heard, the Shopkeeper moved his head back and slowly flew in a snake-like movement back towards the back of the van to continue securing the backdoors. Doing so, didn't make Rob feel any better that he's no longer in his face, but it made him feel safe enough to finally move around after feeling stuck in fear.

Funny thing is, the Shopkeeper would never go out of his way to break anyone's legs. A child's, for a matter of fact. But in fear that Rob will try to escape and snitch to the cops is a chance he will not take. Besides, implementing fear has always been his highest traits, and has done nothing but kept people around him silent.

As the distance between the two expands father away, Rob brought himself up on his own two feet and sat down on the cardboard box behind him, letting his head drop as he does so.

As the Shopkeeper grabs hold of the chains and starts looping it around the handles of the backdoor, he turned his head slightly towards the left and begins speaking up.

"You've picked the wrong time to run into me while I was hiding. Because there's an ongoing manhunt for my arrest, you're going to be in here with me until the cops leave. Once the whole disturbance outside of the parking finally dies down, I'll let you go and be on my way. I'll be gone by the time you reach the bottom floor…" His words were slightly drowned by the sounds of metal chain clashing together as he continues to play with it, but he spoke loud enough for Rob to hear his demands.

"I don't know how they knew I was hiding out here, the news on the radio just said that no one was chasing after me… No heli, no chase..."

 _Wait..._

He thinks the police are after them...

"They're not looking for you…"

The sounds of chains hitting each other ceased into nothingness and silence returns to the van once again, but instead of fearing for his life, Rob is patiently waiting for the Shopkeeper response.

The Shopkeeper easies the grip of the chains until it falls out of his hands and slams onto the hard metal flooring of the van. He turns to face Rob once again, with the same bright, bulging white eyes he had earlier when confronting Rob.

"Say again?"

Rob brought his head up and faces the Shopkeeper. "They're not looking for you. They're looking for me."

Hearing this, the Shopkeeper slowly flew back to the same position he was in when he was trying to interrogate Rob. This time, however, he stands by his left side.

"You're the reason why they're here?" The Shopkeeper said in his usual gravel tone.

"Yeah… I ran into someone who offered to give me free food at the food court, some emo-ghost chick. I thought she was going to pay for me or if she knew someone who works around there to hook us up. But instead her idea of trying to get 'a butt-load of food'..." Rob stated while bringing both his hands up and bend both his index and middle finger, quoting on the term.

"...to possess someone's child into scaring everyone off and run outside to safety, leaving their food behind in the processes."

"When two police officers came to try to arrest her, they saw me with her eating the leftovers during the aftermath. Before I could be in handcuffs by, she ran into one of them and possessed him. She later tackled the other guy before he could radio for back up, and yelled at me to run away."

The Shopkeeper turned away from his eye and faced towards the front window of the van. "Where the two officers you speak of by any chance french fries?"

Rob sat up straight after hearing the details of the two officers. "Y-Yeah! You saw the two?!"

The two eyes faced Rob again. "I did, one of them was nearly eaten alive by his other partner…"

Rob's eyes widen in response.

"The other officer, the one that was possessed, came running outside and pinned down the one that had a huge bite mark around his face and bit him once again. He was going to be gunned down by two other officers, but that ghost-kid you mention flew out of his mouth and tried to convince the officers to not shoot the man down. She later escaped before anyone else could do anything."

Rob's expression did not change once the Shopkeeper stopped speaking. Still eye-widen.

"I-Is he dead?!"

The Shopkeeper blinked in response. "I don't know, nor do I give a shit. I've seen people like him get decapitated or mutilated in such a gory fashion, only for them to walk again the next day. But that's just my point of view, so don't take my word for it."

The Shopkeeper flew to the side and headed towards the front of the van. Rob couldn't see what he was doing, but the sounds of his throat makes as the fluid travels down tells him he went to the front for a drink.

The Shopkeeper places down the reusable travel mug down to the passengers' seat and pushes himself off of the armrest. Doing so, he heard the teen speaking. "T-That crazy bitch…"

The Shopkeeper jerked his head back towards Rob. "Gonna talk about your friend like that? She's the reason your ass isn't dying of starvation right now. She should've done you a favor and grabbed you some deodorant while you two were in there!"

"Besides, I thought what she did was amusing! Never have I seen people like them be eaten before by others! For that matter, she gave me an idea for what to do when I get surrounded by those fucking pigs!"

Rob could only respond with disgust as his kidnapper commented on the scenario that took place earlier. That man could be dead for all he knew! His family has to have been disturbed by the loud knocks on the door, with one of the officers being behind the knocking and to break the news to the officer's wife and kids. How their loved one was gone…

Ever since the passing of Gumball, Rob has despised death. The thought of no longer being around and ceasing to be is tragic. He began to wonder where do people go when they die. Was there a real afterlife for Gumball to finally rest? Was it a cloudy world where a bright beam of light shines down on everyone else who passed and can connect with "God."

Or is it like the void? Where people lived in a state of sorrow and anguish. In Limbo. To be forgotten…

Rob's mind soon began to race with other questions, for he does not know the answers

Minutes later, the sounds of chains hitting together soon ceased to exist as the snapping of the padlock clicked loudly, indicating that the back door has finally been locked shut. Rob looked up and saw the Shopkeeper flying over towards Rob slowly, not daring to look down at the kid.

Rob's body began to stiffen the closer he got.

"Now, you better stay put and behave till the cops leave the parking lot. Sleep, day-dream, or cry for all I fucking care. But you better not go around and start messing with my shit! Everything here, is money. And I sure as hell don't want to be driving off and seeing that you broke something valuable, and I leave with empty pockets!"

A trail of mist flew behind the Shopkeeper as he flies over to the driver's seat and leans his head back into the headrest, watching over the horizon as the sun begins to set.

Rob couldn't tell if he closed his eyes to rest or if he was still awake, afraid that getting up off the ground would anger his kidnapper and would hurt him doing so. Instead, Rob leaned back into the cold aluminum walls of the van and closes his eyes, hoping to catch some shut-eye after being awake for so long.

Walking around the city for change, walking away from the burger joint after his encounter with Tobias Wilson, the disarray Carrie has done to the mall and that poor child… Today was extremely busy for Rob. Him finally having time to rest is the only silver lining in this whole situation he's in, being that he's finally no longer sleeping with ants and provoking strangers.

His eyelids soon became too heavy to keep open. The pain from his forehead soon died down and started becoming fuzzy to him. His entire body soon felt this way as he soon slumbers into a deep sleep.

* * *

 _Static came into view. As if his entire vision was focused onto a TV screen with no signal. It sort of hurts to keep watching, but it's as if his body cannot fight to look away…_

 _A few snaps of connections interrupts the dancing black and white snowflakes in view, as if the tv was finally finding a signal. Yet for a good few minutes, nothing has changed._

 _ **I walked…**_

 _ **I could do nothing but walk...**_

 _A deep gravelly voice talked over the TV static. Subtitles came into view and mimicked the voice coming within._

 _ **It's all I can do ever since the events that took place.**_

 _ **I have no other options.**_

 _ **No matter how fast I run,**_

 _ **No matter how quickly I turn,**_

 _ **No matter how far I go…**_

 _ **Nothing changes.**_

 _ **I'm stuck here, in this endless limbo.**_

 _Suddenly, a tree comes into view, slowly backing out. It appears that the upper part of the tree had a miniature wooden home built around it, indicating that it's a treehouse. The more the view backs out, the more Rob sees from the treehouse._

 _It now appears that the treehouse is standing out in what little ground it has. A fence is still built around the tree, as if it still holds up to protect the tree from any intruders._

 _ **The more time I spend here, the more I question myself.**_

 _ **Was this the best outcome for me?**_

 _ **Were my choices, the correct choices?**_

 _ **I swear I was supposed to be happy when everything was over…**_

 _ **But…  
I feel everything but happiness…**_

 _Soon, more and more objects come into view the more it backs out. From a walkman spinning slowly in mid-air, a broken disco ball leaving a trail of shards behind, a segway with the handlebars being caught on the car door of a hippie-van, to a red car with the brand logo being sanded off from the hood of the car._

 _All of these items, were too familiar to Rob. Then it hit him._

 _In view, was the Void. His old home._

 _His own personal hell._

 _ **I feel exhausted…**_

 _Suddenly, a casket came into view. It was a traditional wooden casket, with three golden handles on each side. At first, Rob would've assumed it was it would fade away from view as the rest of the items did. But this one was different from the rest. It…_

 _It was following him the more he backed up._

 _Other items came and go, like a unicycle and floppy disks made its appearance, but the wooden casket from before would never leave the TV screen._

 _Come to think of it. It was coming closer as time moved on._

 _Later, no other items came into view, as the only thing in view of the screen was just static, and the casket that followed._

 _ **My actions had consequences that I didn't think would follow.**_

 _ **I just thought everything would be better this way.**_

 _The voice continues to talk, all Rob could make out from it was gibberish as it became… distorted…_

 _Even the subtitles couldn't make up on what it said as the text bubble only made out:_

 _ **^68ZS**() &(A638346493PTSILENTds99**_

 _After a short pause, it began to talk again._

 _ **I'm so sorry everyone…**_

 _The voice changed and it was no longer gravelly. It changed into a higher, somewhat familiar voice._

 _It's sounded like Gumball! But the only thing is… It sounded different._

 _It sounded like it was trying to mimic his voice. Like it was trying to make his voice deeper._

 _Then, the lid of the casket opened. It slowly creaked open as bits of dirt spew out from it._

 _What was hidden underneath from Rob soon horrified him as he admires the body that was within._

 _It was Gumball's body in the processes of decaying. On the left side of his face, was Gumball's lifeless self. His left eye, was grey and cloudy. Looking down as if it was ashamed to be exposed. On the right side of his face, was his skeleton; the aftermath of what his body will become later. A pool of maggots swarmed inside his eye socket and around what remains of his flesh. His mouth was open ajar, displaying missing teeth and decaying lips._

 _His famous turtleneck sweater, stained and ripped from the dirt and debris._

 _Then. All of a sudden. The body jerk upward and the cloudy eye looked up into the TV screen._

 _ **If only I could've stopped myself from this.**_

* * *

 **Remember when I said this story was getting a redo?**

 **Yeah, me neither. I'm sorry this chapter was short. A lot of shit happened and this is all I could squeeze out of my tight schedule. I didn't want you guys to think I abandoned this story once again.**

 **I promise the next chapter will be longer. If not, it'll be a part two to this chapter. Just give me some time.**


End file.
